India's Modi Wins History's Biggest Election By A Landslide

Supporters of Hindu
nationalist Narendra Modi, the prime ministerial candidate for
India's main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), shower
confetti from atop a bus in the western Indian city of Ahmedabad
May 15, 2014.REUTERS/Amit
Dave

NEW DELHI (Reuters) - Opposition candidate Narendra Modi will be
the next prime minister of India, with counting trends showing
the pro-business Hindu nationalist and his party headed for the
most resounding election victory the country has seen in thirty
years.

Modi's landslide win was welcomed with a thundering rally on
India's stock markets and raucous celebrations at offices across
the country of his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), where supporters
danced, exploded fireworks and handed out sweets.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, whose Congress party headed for a
crushing defeat, telephoned Modi to congratulate him on his
success, the prime minister's office said.

Crowds surged around Modi's car after he visited his mother's
home in the western state of Gujarat. He sent a message saying
"India has won," that instantly set a record as the country's
most retweeted Twitter post.

"I'm so happy because all of India wanted a strong government,"
said software engineer Vinod Rai as he embraced friends and
shouted in joy at the BJP's Delhi headquarters, his forehead
smeered with vermillion red.

The party was headed for a majority in parliament, giving Modi
the most decisive mandate for any leader since the 1984
assassination of prime minister Indira Gandhi propelled her son
to office. Since 1989, India has been governed by coalitions.

The BJP was winning in 277 seats of the 543-seat parliament,
counting trends showed. An alliance led by the party was ahead in
336 seats, TV channel NDTV said.

Responding to the news Indian markets got off to a roaring start,
with the rupee breaking below 59 to the U.S. dollar, an 11-month
high, and the benchmark stock index jumped 6 percent before
paring its gains.

Betting on a Modi win, foreign investors have poured more than
$16 billion into Indian stocks and bonds in the past six months
and now hold over 22 percent of Mumbai-listed equities - a stake
estimated by Morgan Stanley at almost $280 billion.

Unlike his predecessors, Modi will not have to deal with unruly
partners as he implements reform. That could usher in profound
economic changes, and he will try to replicate his success in
attracting investment and building infrastructure in Gujarat, the
state he has governed for 12 years.

"He can afford to have a smaller but stronger cabinet, that means
a far more decisive government. He has been saying less
government and more governance, we are really likely to see
that," said Navneet Munot, Chief Investment Officer at SBI Funds
management in Mumbai.

But with India's economy suffering its worst slowdown since the
1980s and battling high inflation, it will not be an easy task to
meet the hopes of millions of Indians who have bought into the
idea that Modi will quickly push their country onto the top table
of global economic powers.

"People will not give him much time to deliver," said Neerja
Chowdhury, a political analyst and a former political editor of
the Indian Express newspaper. "On the economic reform agenda, I
think he will move very quickly ... he's a doer and he's very
focused."

DESIRE FOR CHANGE

The 63-year-old's promises of job creation and clean, efficient
government resonated with many of the half a billion people who
braved blistering summer heat to vote in the world's biggest
election over the last five weeks.

Since being named as his party's candidate last September, Modi
has flown 300,000 km and addressed 457 rallies in a slick,
presidential-style campaign that has broken the mould of Indian
politics.

Modi's media-savvy, modern campaign ran circles round his
slow-footed rival, Rahul Gandhi, 43, from the Congress party. The
Congress, which led India to independence from Britain, was
headed for its worst-ever result after two terms in office marred
by corruption and a floundering economy.

Prime Minister Singh, who as finance minister launched reforms in
1991 that brought an end to decades of economic isolation, has
already bid farewell to his staff after ten years in office
marked by mounting policy paralysis.

The desire for change has been so strong that voters put aside
concerns about Modi's Hindu-centric politics. A dark chapter of
violence against Muslims on his watch has mattered less and less
to many, including a bulging middle class alarmed by dwindling
purchasing power and job opportunities as the economy slumped to
sub-five percent growth in the last two years.

Gandhi was leading by a slender margin in his seat of Amethi, a
family bastion that has been held in turn by his uncle, father
and mother, Sonia. A loss there would spell disaster for the
great grandson of India's independence leader.

Modi has promised that, if elected, he would take decisive action
to unblock stalled investments in power, road and rail projects
to revive economic growth.

Tax and labor market reforms, backed by a gradual opening up to
foreign investment, would seek to create the 10 million jobs that
Asia's third-largest economy must create every year to employ
young people entering the workforce.

Modi watched the results on TV at his home in Gujarat then met
his mother, 95-year-old Hiraben, at his brother's modest
government flat in the state capital, Gandhinagar. He touched her
feet and she put a red stripe on his forehead as a blessing,
while crackers burst outside amid chants of "Modi, Modi."

He was later expected to embark on a victory tour to his local
constituency of Vadodara, while party workers in New Delhi hoped
he would go there later for what could be a hero's welcome.